What started as sibling-inspired fun at a roller rink in Waterbury seems destined to end in the mountains of Vermont as a record-setting goaltending career for Water- town's Erin Stevens.

After watching how much fun her old brother, Matthew, was having playing roller hockey, Stevens decided at age 6 to give the sport a try. A family vacation meant she couldn't start the season until a week after the other kids, so she pretty much became the goalie by default.

"I was the only girl on the team, and none of the boys wanted to play goalie," Stevens said. "I thought it was really cool. I was making new friends and just kind of following along with what my brother was doing. I didn't really think, 'Oh, they are shooting pucks at me.' It was just fun. I immediately loved it. I don't know why a 6-year-old little girl would love that, but I did."

A little over a year later, she convinced her parents to allow her to trade in her roller blades for ice skates with the Watertown Red Wings mites. Despite playing against boys through the squirt, pee wee and bantam ranks, she never lost her passion.

In fact, she honed her craft so well that last week in the midst of her senior year at St. Michael's College she became only the 22nd goaltender in Division II or Division III women's college hockey history to record 2,000 career saves.

"I can't believe how much (the saves) add up over the years," Stevens. "I can't believe I have had 2,000 saves. I am really excited about it. It is a cool milestone. But at the same time, I just go out there and I stop pucks. It's just part of my job."

St. Michaels coach Chris Donovan said he is not surprised at all by Stevens' accomplishment despite the fact that at 5-foot-3 she is much smaller than the typical goalie and doesn't fill up the net as much as most.

"She has a tremendous glove, and the blocker is pretty good, also," Donovan said. "Because she is small, she makes up for it with her quickness. And (goalie coach) Leon (Lifschutz) has made some good changes with how she holds her glove and positions her stick and her block-

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er. That has made a huge difference."

Throughout her youth hockey days, Stevens was always taught to keep her elbows close to her body to cover up any potential holes for opponents to shoot at. She was also a standup goalie who relied mostly on her reflexes to make saves.

She received better coaching once she reached the high school level and started playing for the Connecticut Polar Bears, who won state and regional championships in both her freshman and junior years and went on to finish third and second in the nation, respectively.

But it wasn't until she got to St. Michael's, especially her senior year when Lifschutz joined the staff, that she felt like she really started to blossom as a player. In college, she became much better at the butterfly technique, going down across the goal crease with her pads rather than standing up all the time.

Because she isn't quite big enough to fill up the goal, she has become a hybrid goalie, making the most of the butterfly technique and her standup skills to explode toward pucks. Lifschutz got her to play with her hands out in front of her and it has allowed her to control her stick a lot better and improve her rebound control significantly.

A two-year team captain, Stevens went into this week's home-and-home series against No. 5 Norwich University with a 3.00 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage, both career bests. Her save percentage ranked third in the ECAC East. She also led all Division II and Division III goalies in total saves with 417, stopping 30 or more shots nine times.

Playing without its top two scorers, St. Michaels is 1-11-1. Stevens wishes the team could win more, but she has no regrets about her school choice. She's close with her teammates and would put their work ethic up against that of any nationally ranked team.

St. Michael's lost to Norwich, 10-0, on Wednesday, but Stevens made 41 saves, marking the 16th time in her 64 career games that she's made at least 40.

"I never really feel like I am under siege," Stevens said. "There are some games when I look at the stat sheet after and see 40, 50 shots on goal, and I just wonder how it happens. But I've been a goalie my whole life so my mind-set has just been to stop the puck and not think about how many times it is."

She already holds the school records for saves and minutes played for both a single season and a career, and is on pace to set the record for save percentage and goals against average.

"It is definitely a great challenge, and I love it," Stevens said. "I don't know if I would enjoy it as much if I was playing for a team that only gave up 20 shots per game. I don't think I would feel like I was doing everything I could."

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George Miller wrote on Jan 10, 2013 11:41 PM:

" And a great goalie she was while playing for the Watertown Red Wings. I watched her play many games over the years and she was outstanding.

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